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Sunday, November 14, 2010

WTHR Identifies IMPD Officer Under Investigation For Holding Up Stripper

IMPD has been buzzing since Public Safety Director Frank Straub told a group of police officers at the training academy late this past week another one of their fellow officers was under investigation and was about to be arrested. While the officer hasn't yet been arrested, WTHR has now identified the officer in a report this weekend. Dwayne Mays is the officer under investigation for allegedly holding up a stripper from the Classy Chassy after he offered her a ride home. According to the report, Mays allegedly gave $60 to 25-year-old Britney Shatzer for an unspecified act but later demanded the money back, along with other money she had on her person--about $100--after flashing his police badge to her.

Sources say an IMPD officer is under investigation for possibly using his badge to rob an Indianapolis woman.

Sources tell Eyewitness News the investigation is in connection with an alleged robbery early Thursday morning. Eyewitness News has confirmed that a Metro Police officer is the subject of the investigation.

Initially, police thought 25-year-old Britney Shatzer, who was robbed at 38th and High School Road, was the victim of a police impersonator.

The original police report of the incident, which occurred at 2:45 a.m. Thursday, says Shatzer, who danced at the Classy Chassy club on South Harding Street, had quit her job after an argument with a manager. She asked a customer, who she had reportedly danced for earlier in the evening, for a ride home.

The report says the man "continually expressed sexual innuendos" as he drove Shatzer around I-465 to West 38th Street. He reportedly offered her $60, but did not specifically state what he wanted in exchange for the money.

While riding in the car, the woman sent a text message to her boyfriend, identified as Fabian Garcia, asking him to pick her up at the BP gas station at 38th Street and High School Road. She told police she felt uneasy about the situation in the car and that she had observed handcuffs on the console of the man's pickup truck.

Garcia, who was sitting in his SUV at the gas station, said he saw Shatzer and man enter the gas station, with Shatzer going to the bathroom while the man used an ATM machine, withdrawing money.

After leaving the gas station, Shatzer had Garcia retrieve her bags from the back of the pick-up truck. At that time, the man reached under the front seat of the truck and pulled out a badge and identified himself as a police officer.

"[The man] stated that he wanted his money back from her, or she was going to jail," the report reads.

Garcia approached the man to get a better look at the badge, but the man put it in his pocket and ordered Garcia back into his SUV, also threatening him with jail. Garcia, who is on probation, went back to his car and the suspect asked Shatzer for her identification.

As the suspect acted to make a call to check on outstanding warrants, Shatzer produced all the money she had - $100 she made working at the club and $60 which the man gave her inside the gas station. The man snatched the money from her hand, got into his vehicle and fled southbound on High School Road at a high rate of speed.

Garcia and Shatzer tried to chase down the man, but thought it was unsafe when his speed reached 80 MPH. After returning to the gas station and contacting police, Shatzer returned home. A short time later, she called police again and said she had received a phone call from the suspect, who said "I'm going to get you, [expletive]."

WTHR notes the original police report did not name the officer because it was originally suspected of being a case of police impersonation. Officer Mays has been placed on administrative leave according to the report.

I'm not sure why it is, but the Indianapolis police seem to have a long and storied relationship with the city's prostitutes and strippers. Dick Cady and his fellow reporters at the Indianapolis Star learned that back during their great investigative journalism of the old Indianapolis Police Department back in the 1970s. Their reporting stepped on too many toes and eventually resulted in Cady and fellow reporter Bill Anderson being indicted on trumped up charges brought against them by former Marion Co. Prosecutor Noble Pearcy, who apparently rivaled Carl Brizzi when it came to running a corrupt prosecutor's office. Pearcy's charges claimed they conspired to bribe a police officer, charges that were eventually dropped by Pearcy's Democratic successor, James Kelley. You can read more about all of that in Cady's new book, Deadline: Indianapolis now available for purchase on amazon.com. Anyone else notice how all of the better investigative journalism these days is done by the local TV stations and not the Indianapolis Star?

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